Bendy in Sick Day
by LiterarySerenity
Summary: When Boris falls sick, Bendy and Alice must work together in an effort to help him. Meant to take place in the weeks following "Alice Angel in 'Sent From Heaven'" and "'Bendy in 'Little Errand Boy'." Bendy and the Ink Machine, and its characters, belong to TheMeatly and Joey Drew Studio Productions Inc. Please be gentle


This cartoon opens on the wooden shack of Boris the Wolf, in an unusual state. A rusty mailbox near the entrance to the yard leans away from the property as if trying to flee, while entire sections of the fence are gone. Boards from the porch lay scattered across the grass alongside tiles off the roof. Even the front windows have noticeable cracks.

Bendy gapes at the sight before him from the dirt road, pie-cut eyes wide in bewilderment. A question mark appears above his head. The place looks like a hurricane has just struck, but the surrounding countryside appears otherwise peaceful. It is a sunny morning with clear skies. Frowning, the little demon takes a moment to straighten the mailbox.

Something is clearly wrong here. _Very_ wrong.

Jingling bells draw his attention to the flock of sheep that Boris usually tends, huddled together in the field opposite. Concern fills their normally peaceful faces, which only adds to the overall sense of wrongness.

At that moment, a loud, gravelly snort erupts from the shack, sounding like an angry grizzly bear and causing the sheep to bleat in alarm. The sound is so unnerving that Bendy takes to his heels as if to run away—until a familiar (albeit raspy) whine follows afterwards. He screeches to a halt.

Boris?

While the strange situation terrifies Bendy, what terrifies him even more is the possibility of his buddy being in trouble. Keeping this in mind, the little demon swallows his panic and tiptoes around the debris in the yard up to the porch; sweat trickles down his forehead all the while. He tugs on his white bowtie, releasing a puff of steam, before knocking on the front door.

The sound of footsteps on the approach is a comforting sign. Bendy can easily identify Boris by his easygoing, sauntering gait. However, that gait does sound somewhat unsteady on this occasion. Looking over one shoulder, he gives the sheep in the field a reassuring grin. But the sheep continue to watch in clear anxiety as the doorknob jiggles and turns. The door creaks open—until the wheezy intake of breath begins; it starts off low, and then quickly grows shriller and louder. Air gets sucked in through the ajar door like a vacuum. The boards and other debris in the yard slide toward the opening. Even the sides of the building curve inwards as the breath gathers strength.

Bendy retreats as he slides forward as well. Out of the corner of his eye, he spots the sheep running for cover behind the nearest foothill. A terrible sense of foreboding overwhelms him.

Then, of course, the explosion comes: "Aaaaaaa-chooooo!"

The shack walls billow outwards like ship sails, the door goes flying off its hinges—planting itself in the foothill near the sheep—and Bendy finds himself caught in a windy torrent that sends him spiraling head over heels right into the mailbox, which consequently topples over and bonks him between the horns.

Bendy rubs his head. It takes several moments for his pie-cut eyes to stop spinning. When they do, he sees Boris step out onto the porch. He gasps.

The toon wolf looks worse than his shack. He holds his shepherd's crook in one hand, as if in preparation to tend the sheep. But dark bags hang under his eyes, and his nose is much larger than usual and throbbing. Pulling a handkerchief out of his overalls pocket, Boris blows into it and produces a sound exactly like a blown trumpet. He notices Bendy on the walkway, smiles, and begins to topple face-first towards the ground.

Leaping up, Bendy runs with arms outstretched as if to catch Boris—

Only to get squashed underneath the lanky form of his friend.

* * *

One scene later finds the toons inside the wooden shack, joined by Alice Angel. Boris lays in the armchair that doubles as his bed, with a quilted blanket tucked around him. He wheezes softly. Most destressing of all is the dazed gleam in his eyes, where he seems to drift in and out of a fitful sleep while hardly aware of his friends.

Frantic, Bendy turns to Alice with his gloved hands clasped together in a pleading gesture. A dialogue bubble above him shows Alice waving her gloved fingers, sparkly magic falling over Boris, and Boris springing out of the armchair with a huge smile. It is clear Bendy hopes Alice can use her divine powers to cure him right away.

Alice sighs, and produces a dialogue bubble of her own to indicate that while she can heal injuries such as cuts or broken bones, diseases are beyond her capabilities. However, she does mention having found a medical guide to help them. In addition, Alice reaches into the hammerspace behind her back and pulls out a metal box which—if the cartoon came in color—would show the symbol of a red cross.

A medical kit. Bendy takes the box with great care and opens it, gazing in wonder at the assortment of bandages, cotton balls, and other items inside. By this time, Alice has pulled out the medical guide from her hammerspace as well. The volume is so thick and heavy, she needs to set it down on the floor before flipping through the pages.

In this way, Alice and Bendy browse the medical guide for information on the symptoms they have noticed in Boris and come across an entry for "The Common Cold." The guide identifies the condition as treatable and not life-threatening, in general, which causes both demon and angel to wipe their brows in relief. Helpfully, the section goes on to give tips for treatment.

The guide is also helpful in another way: it demystifies the items in the medical kit.

So, it is with a shared sense of triumph that Bendy hands Alice a thermometer to stick into Boris' mouth to check his temperature. They watch the thermometer fill with dark liquid that stops just short of the knob at the end. Their faces fall in dismay, but as they begin to consult the medical guide again, Boris convulses. His wheezing grows suddenly louder and sharper, as he draws in breath. Items slide toward him; it is a wonder the thermometer stays in place.

Recognizing a sneeze in progress, Bendy and Alice take cover behind the armchair, clutching the medical guide and medical kit to keep them from getting tugged away. The explosion rocks the whole shack, rattles the cupboard (thankfully shut tightly for safety) and causes a picture to fall (showing a weird version of a neighborhood filled with cubes and angles). They also notice the thermometer has gone shooting through the air to impale itself in the wall, right behind the space where they had been moments ago.

Rattled but undaunted, the toons check out the medical guide again. According to the text, his high temperature means Boris has a slight fever, for which they place a bag of ice upon his head. The coolness calms their friend enough for him to fall into an easier sleep. They shake hands at a job well-done but then realize, regarding the wreckage around them, their job is far from over.

* * *

So, as Boris sleeps, Bendy and Alice start to clean up around the wooden shack. Some parts are relatively easy. To start with, Alice hangs the pictures back up on the walls and uses a broom to sweep the dust out of the house. Bendy, meanwhile, finds Boris' toolbox; then he retrieves the door from the foothill and—by standing on one the sheep—manages to reattach it to the doorframe.

When Alice looks impressed at his skill with the tools, Bendy explains in a dialogue bubble the way he has often watched Boris at work on one project or another. As such, he has begun to learn how to put things together, and in fact finds it fun to do.

As a side note, Bendy brings up his amazement at the medical guides and items that Alice has access to, which causes her, in turn, to blush with pride. The angel gazes thoughtfully at the medical guide and kit, and it is obvious she plans to continue her studies in healthcare, especially if it will help Boris and anyone else in need.

While Boris continues to rest, Bendy and Alice clean the yard, fix the windows (it turns out angelic abilities can eliminate fractures in glass as well, which surprises Alice as much as it does Bendy), and check on the sheep. In-between activities, they check the medical guide and test their friend's temperature, which gradually drops over the next few hours.

Making bacon soup is what finally brings Boris around, and even with a cold, he has a healthy appetite. Bendy and Alice watch him eat in tired satisfaction. Each of them tries to fight off sleep, which is probably why they fail to react right away when Boris again starts to wheeze. What follows is a powerful sneeze, rather than an explosion of wind, although it still blows Alice and Bendy backwards and rattles a few things around the shack. Thankfully, everything stays in place afterwards.

Bendy and Alice cheer.

* * *

The following morning, Boris wakes up feeling better than ever. He yawns, stretches, and hops out of his armchair with a huge smile on his lips. His shack is in great shape, and it is as if his illness from the other day was just a bad dream.

But he does remember, in a mental bubble, his friends running around and doing things just for him. Genuinely touched by the memory, he wipes away a tear with one finger.

That is when he hears sniffling sounds from outside, followed by the concerned bleats of his sheep. Opening the door, Boris finds Bendy and Alice Angel sitting on his front porch steps. Alice's nose looks larger than usual and throbs, while the spot on Bendy's face where his nose would be has a dark blush to it. They are flipping through a guidebook, but it is difficult since either one or the other will sneeze such a powerful sneeze, the pages will flip in quick succession—either to the end or the beginning of the book, depending on which one does it.

Boris smiles again. He goes back into his shack, grabs blankets, and drapes them around his friends' shoulders. Then he leads them inside, with the obvious intent to care for them as they had for him.

As any good friend would do.


End file.
